{"id":2462462,"date":"2025-07-16T13:02:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-democrat-enters-race-to-replace-paxton-as-texas-ag-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T13:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T17:03:21","slug":"first-democrat-enters-race-to-replace-paxton-as-texas-ag-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/first-democrat-enters-race-to-replace-paxton-as-texas-ag-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"First Democrat enters race to replace Paxton as Texas AG &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffirst-democrat-enters-race-to-replace-paxton-as-texas-ag-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2462462&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson, a Democrat, has become the first Democrat to announce a campaign to replace outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton in the 2026 election. Johnson aims to bring change to the Texas Attorney General&#8217;s office,criticizing years of corruption,mismanagement,and misplaced priorities. Positioned in a predominantly Republican state, he faces a challenging race against multiple Republican candidates, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-pa-state-senators-remove-lt-gov-from-chamber-after-refusing-to-unseat-contested-dem-out-of-session\/\" title=\"GOP Pa. ... ...ators remove Lt. Gov. from chamber after refusing to unseat contested Dem out of session\">state senators<\/a> Joan Huffman and Mayes Middleton, as well as former Justice Department lawyer Aaron Reitz. Johnson emphasizes independence from both the Biden and Trump administrations, focusing on enforcing the law impartially. The Republican primary features candidates with diverse backgrounds, such as Huffman&#8217;s prosecutorial experience and Middleton&#8217;s conservative policy stances. Johnson&#8217;s campaign seeks to appeal to independents and moderate Republicans in his bid to flip the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mexico-publishes-heavily-edited-probe-of-exonerated-general\/\" title=\"Mexico Publishes Heavily Edited Probe of Exonerated General\">attorney general&#8217;<\/a>s office blue for the first time since 1994.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">First Democrat enters race to replace Paxton as Texas AG<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2171315\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democratic-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Democratic <\/a>Texas state Sen. Nathan Johnson on Tuesday announced a bid to succeed outgoing Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ken-paxton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ken Paxton<\/a>, who is taking on Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3373728\/texas-democrats-2026-senate-race-ken-paxton-john-cornyn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">John Cornyn<\/a> (R-TX) in the Republican Senate primary.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is the first Democrat to launch a campaign among a growing field of Republican contenders vying for Paxton&rsquo;s place ahead of the 2026 election.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3472827\/abigail-spanberger-winsome-earle-sears-vcu-poll\/\">Abigail Spanberger leads Winsome Earle-Sears in new VCU poll<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3472329\/biden-aide-anthony-bernal-deposition-house-oversight-committee-autopen\/\">Former Biden aide Anthony Bernal invokes Fifth Amendment before House Oversight Committee autopen investigation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3472622\/zohran-mamdani-shift-stance-globalize-the-intifada\/\">Mamdani expected to shift stance on &#8216;globalize the intifada&#8217; phrase<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;After years of corruption and abuse of the office, misplaced priorities, and bad management, Texas needs an AG who can meet the present moment &ndash; with strength, independence, and a genuine commitment to serve the people of Texas,&rdquo; the Dallas Democrat said in a statement announcing his campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson, who is in his third term in the Texas Senate, faces an uphill battle in the race to be the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >solidly red state&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s next chief prosecutor. Three Republicans have already entered the race, which a Democrat hasn&rsquo;t won since 1994.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>During an interview this week with the<em> Texas Tribune<\/em>, Johnson made overtures to independents and centrist Republicans as he seeks to flip the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mi-lawmakers-just-made-it-easier-to-commit-election-fraud\/\" title=\"MI Lawmakers Simplify Process for Election Fraud\">attorney general&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s office blue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to use the office to do what the Biden administration says or what the Trump administration says,&rdquo; he<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/07\/15\/nathan-johnson-texas-attorney-general-democrat-2026-midterms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> said<\/a>. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to use the office to do what it&rsquo;s supposed to do, which is to make sure that everybody knows the rules and that everybody follows the rules, and then if you don&rsquo;t follow the rules, there&rsquo;s consequences.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Two other state senators, Joan Huffman and Mayes Middleton, are running in the Republican primary, alongside former Justice Department lawyer Aaron Reitz. James E. &ldquo;Trey&rdquo; Trainor III, a Texas Republican commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/3464540\/fec-republican-trey-trainor-to-stay-block-democrats-weaponization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">also weighed a bid <\/a>as a fourth candidate, but announced last week he had decided to stick with his job at the federal agency.<\/p>\n<p>Huffman, who hails from Houston, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3445743\/texas-border-wall-funding-ends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">the state&rsquo;s lead budget writer<\/a>. She has used her background as a former prosecutor, with 13 years as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/calif-da-blasts-gov-newsom-for-not-stopping-release-of-convicted-killer\/\" title=\"Calif. DA blasts Gov. Newsom for not stopping release of convicted killer\">assistant district attorney<\/a> in Harris County, to champion<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3425235\/texas-house-democrats-block-bail-reform-measures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> bail reform<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The attorney general is the lawyer for the state and every state agency as well. As the person trusted to write the state budget, I know the ins and outs of every facet of state government,&rdquo; Huffman wrote when she announced her candidacy last month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From left, Texas Senators Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, Juan &ldquo;Chuy&rdquo; Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, walk onto the Senate floor at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. (Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3471706\/ken-paxton-investigating-noncitizen-voters-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">KEN PAXTON INVESTIGATING OVER 100 POSSIBLE NONCITIZEN VOTERS IN 2020 AND 2022 ELECTIONS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Reitz, a former Marine who recently led the Justice Department&rsquo;s Office of Legal Policy and has built&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/state\/3440970\/trump-doj-ally-aaron-reitz-texas-attorney-general\/\" target=\"_blank\">a campaign as a MAGA candidate, has painted her as a liberal<\/a><\/span>. Reitz has close ties to President Donald Trump and has allied himself with Paxton, as he was the attorney general&rsquo;s legal strategy adviser.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Galveston-based Middleton, a first-term Republican state senator, was recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/06\/18\/texas-senate-conservative-liberal-ranking-legislature\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ranked<\/a> the second most conservative member of the Texas Senate by a study from the<em> Texas Tribune<\/em>. Middleton, the president of an independent oil and gas company, is known as an immigration hawk and an advocate of school choice.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2171315\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2171315\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First Democrat joins race to replace Texas AG Paxton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2462463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/texas-capitol.-.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[4912,3728,53273],"class_list":["post-2462462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democrat","tag-election","tag-texas-ag"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/texas-capitol.-.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2462462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2462466,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2462462\/revisions\/2462466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2462463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2462462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2462462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2462462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}